Shoe stiffener conditioning machine



Oct. 11, 1932. c. s. EMERSON I SHOE STIFFENER CONDITIONING MACHINE FiledApril 5, 1928 INVENTOH o/14M Patented Oct. 11, 1932 UNiTEDrSrATEs PATENTFFICE; Y Y

CHARLES s. EMERSON, on MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIR AssIGnon 'ro fUivITEISHOE MAC INERY" CORPORATION,

or NEW JERSEY a l c ti n filed April 5;

the stifleners in the uppers of boots and shoes.

In themanufactureof bootsand shoes'it is common to make'use of a box toeblank which consists of a fabric baseimpregnated with a operations orvto shoestiffeners'.

stiffening substance such ascelluloid'. A

blank of this kind is immersed for a short interval in a solvent for thecelluloid for example, in a mixture of alcohol and acetone, in 'order torender the blank limp and pliable.

i The blank, when it emergesfrom the liquid,

carries more or less surplus liquid upon its surface, and is commonlyallowed ,to stand for a short time to permit part of this liquid to beabsorbed by the blank and the rest to drain away; after which thesoftened blank is assembled in the upper of a shoe'and con formed to thetoe portion of the last during the pulling-over and lasting operations.

A general object of the present inventlon is to provide a machine by theuse of which stiffener blanks maybe prepared rapidly and uniformly foruse. 'While the invention is herein disclosed as embodied in a-machinein- .ferent angle of chine;

Fig. 3 isanend elevational view ofth matended primarily for thesoftening of shoe stiffeners, it will be evident that" the machine isnot limited'in its range of usefulnessmerely shoe stifieners or likearticles are to be sub- 7 j ected to the action of a liquid. It isunderstood, therefore, that the invention is not limited in itsapplicationmerely to softenlng According to'one feature of the presentinvention there is provided a receptacle for liquid, and'a carrier ismounted upon a vertical slide outside of the receptacle and is heldnormally above the liquid by means of a weight. In the illustratedmachine the carrier is provided'with clips adapted to hold severalblanks in separated relation and with a knob adapted to be engaged bythe operator to push the carrier down into the liquid. Pushing thecarrier down raises the weightso that, as soon as the operator releasesthe car-' snot. srrrrnnna CONDITIONING MACHINE .1928. Serial nmizeaesz-1 orraj'rnnson, NEW JERSEY, A conrona'rron rier, it returns to itsnormal position above the liquld, in which position surplus liquid whichmay be carried upon the surfaces of the blanks drains back into thereceptacle. With f I i this construction, blanks maybe rapidly anduniformly temperedyand the operator'may vary the interval of theimmersion as 'is at times desirable, since some kinds of blanks thoseintended for mensheavy shoes, for'eX- amplecontain much more of thestiffening substance than do others and require a longer immersion. Theweight serves to return the carrier gradually to its normally elevatedposition, thereby avoiding any likelihood of splashin off drops of theliquid adhering to. the blanks or of dislodgi-ng the blanks from thecarrier, as mightoccur upon the sudden :release of a resilient means forreturning the carrier to normal position." I

This and other features of the'invention,

including certain details of construction and combinatlons of parts willbe .describedas embodiedin an illustrated machine and POIIltQd out inthe appended claim, Referring to the accompanying drawing s F ig; 1 is aperspective view of a machine in which the present invention isembodied; Fig. 2 is a perspective view taken at a difa portion of thesame ma chine; and

Fig. 4 is'a detail view in section taken on the line IVIV of Fig. l

The -'llustratedmachine comprises "three units each consisting of areceptacle for softening liquid, a carrier, and a weight connected withthe carrier for, holding the carrier normally in position ab'ove theliquid, a plurality of units being provided so that the box toes uponone carrier may be draining while those on anotherare beingremoved oneby one and assembled in the upper of a shoe. Inasmuch as the units areallalike only one of them will be describedin de'ta-il."

j the receptacle is an upright guide 19 whichis rectangular incross-section; and fast tothe W rear edge of thisguide is a thin plate21 with.

- which a weight 23 c 0ntact's andlup" and down 15 serving to hold thereceptacle in place and,

' y when turned 90 degrees, to permit its removal. The receptacle, atits rear end abuts against a plate 17 which is fastened to the rear ofthe base 11. Rigid with the base 11 and spacedfrom its rearandfro'm therearof the rear surface of which the weight slides as will presentlyappear, As shown in Figs, 3*and 4, the guide 19 may conveniently be madeintegral with the plate 17 of the same unit. There are three guideslike-theguide 19,one for each receptacle; and thevplate .21

Ila)

extends over therear faces of allof the guides.

At the upperend ofthe guide 19 is an en'- largement or'head having avertical bore throughwhich-a rod -is slidable. :At the upper portion ofthe rcdthe curved stem of a carrier 27 is fastenedby aset, screw 29;andat the lowerend-of therod is fastened,

by means ofaset screw=31,- a yokey33which is slidably mounted upon theupright, guide .19. A chain 35, fast at one end to a screw 37, which isthreaded into theyoke, passes upover a pulley 39, which is rota-tablymounted upon the head of the guide 19, andhas attachedto its oppositeend the weight 23.

1 The carrier; 27 has'extending over the receptacle 7 ablaiilesupporting portion which is curvedto conform roughly tothe curveat .the. rear edge of a box toe blank-100, and

this portion is provided with four spring clipsl-l adapted to hold fourbox'toe blanks ;in,upright position and in spaced relation. .In thiscurved portion of the-carrier 27'are 4.0

a plurality: of holes 12 to'permit liq'uidwhich drains from theblanksto'return to the receptacle/7. I a 7 There is provided for thereceptacle a cover .43 which is placed in position when the unit. 5 isnot being used so as to prevent theescape .of the fumes of-the; volatileliquidi-n the receptacle.

Before the unit can beused, this 7 cover must, of course, be removed.Atthe topof the rod 25 there is fastened byf'aset ,screw a knob 417 forengagement byethev palm of the hand of the operator to push the Icarrier down into the liquid, .smooth to facilitate repeated use.

the knob being Assuming that the base 11 has been fas- Ytenedf-upon'abench and that the cover l3 has been removed, the operation of thedevice is as follows: Aplurality of box too 7 blanks are placed by theoperator in the spring clips ll and the knob 45 pushed down 1 into theposition shown in dotted lines, in

Fig." 3, further. downward movement being prevented by contact of asurface onthe stem -of the carrier 27 with the topof the'head V on theguide 19. .The-carrier 27 isnow in theposition shown in dotted linesinFig. 3,

,and assembled in the uppers of shoes. "some cases, however, as will'beexplained, the v blanks on this carrier are'permitted to stand andthblanks'lOO are immersed in the liquid. After a suitable short intervalthe knob is released, whereupon the weight 23, through the chain 35,returns the carrier 27 to its normalposition above the 1iquid,.theupward movement of therod 25and carrier 27 being limitedby contact ofthe'up'per surface of the .y oke 33 with the under surface of the head,on the guide 19.] Surplus liquid now drainsfrom the blanks b'ack 'intoQthe Lreceptac'le, andw'hen this draining iscompleted V a ,or hasproceededffor a suitable interval the blanks are taken one by one fromthe clips while the previously immersed blanks upon the carrier ofanother unit are being used.

,VTheunit which includesthe receptacle 7 has been described indetail;,The other two ,units shown are like the one which' has been described..It is believed to be unnecessary to describethese other two units indetail 7 but increasedrespectively by one hundred and by. two hundred. 7

Calling the units-respectively No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, from left toright as viewed in -Fig., 1, the onlywdi-iference between-- them is:that No. 3 is somewhat larger than theothertwo so that; a somewhatgreater number of blanks may be immersed at one time if depisiredpx g.

Assuming that the covers have been. re moved 1 from. two of thereceptacles, .as is but to the, parts of .the'm 'which correspond. T I Vto those ofthe described unit have been given so ireference numeralslikethose'of'the first unit 7 shown in-Fig. 1, and thatxon'lytwo units,

Nos. 2 and 3,areto,be used, the procedure is as j follows: A pluralityof blanks are placed in the clips 1 11 of unit No. 2, im-

-mersed and allowed to rise. Then another "plurality of blanks areplacedinl the clips 241 of unit No.3 and similarly immersed and allowedto rise. ;Tl1'e'n the blanks aretaken oneby' one fromunit No. 2 andused. This stage. in: the, procedure is shown in Fig 1. Thenanotherplurality of blanks are placed in the clipsl ll of'unit No. 2 andimmersed.

Thereafter the P dure continues as has n escribed. I r

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

name to this specification.

CHARLES S. EMERSON.

